Random Pictures.

[Worth1]

All of that work turned into this.
Backboard bacon and Habanero mandarin marmalade with toast and sunny side up eggs.
Worth
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[Worth1]

I gave a jar of the orange marmalade to my neighbor lady friend and she gave it the thumbs up.

Worth

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I gave a jar of the orange marmalade to my neighbor lady friend and she gave it the thumbs up.

Worth

My mother absolutely loves marmalade. She doesn't loves many things food wise but marmalade is definitely right up there.

[Father'sDaughter]

I've recently started exploring low sugar jellies, jams and marmalades using Pomona's Universal Pectin. Not only can you get away with adding very little sweetener, it also requires very little cooking so a lot of the natural fruit flavor isn't lost. Amazing stuff!

[Worth1]

In about two gallons of water i added 1 cup of salt 1 cup of brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of insta cure #1.
The beast soaked for around 30 hours in this solution that I dreamed up.
It was then taken out rinsed and dried off.
After that is was laid out and the back bone was cut out flipped over and flattened out.
This requires some effort but you will know when it happens as you will hear a load snap.
This is called Spatchcocking.
Since I couldn't find a pan big enough for tbe bird to sit in I used an old oven rack and put two large pans under it to catch the drippings.
A thermometer was placed in the breast and set at 150 F.
We shall see how this experiment turns out.
Worth
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[Father'sDaughter]

Look good. I used to do it this way when I cooked turkeys indoors. Next time try putting your pan of stuffing/dressing under it to catch the drippings.

[Worth1]

]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Look good. I used to do it this way when I cooked turkeys indoors. Next time try putting your pan of stuffing/dressing under it to catch the drippings.

My little loaf pan of stuffing got a trench dug out down the middle and all of the drippings was poured into it.

The turkey is out it took about 1 1/2 hours to cook.
I pulled it at 150 and it climbed to 161 and started dropping.
The dark meat went to around 170.
So far all of the dark meat is light pink but not salty.

Worth
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[Worth1]

Back about thirteen years ago I used to mow an old cemetery parking lot in front of my old place I lived with a push mower.
One spring while mowing I noticed three little oak seedlings growing they were wee babies.
I couldn't stand to mow them down and put up a stick where they were.
Some time later the old African American preacher that took care of the cemetery and had the country church behind my house came by to thank me for mowing his one acre parking lot.
He asked about the three little seedlings and the stick.
I told him I wanted them to live and was taking care of them.
I told him that when I was mowing and saw them it reminded me that even though there was death life still went on.
To me the seedlings represented this.
The old preacher thought this was pretty cool and said he would pass the word for folks to leave them alone.
Well they did and here they are today my three little oak seedlings.
Worth
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[Worth1]

Homemade pasta many people buy these contraptions few use them.
They try and give up.
Notice the high end gourmet pasta drying rack.
Worth
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[Worth1]

Homemade turkey noodle soup.
Worth
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[ginger2778]

That soup looks yummy, Worth. actually I almost licked the monitor just now!

[Worth1]

I just got through looking on a Chef's Talk forum about using hard red winter wheat to make pasta.
Buy the time I got through 20 posts I gave up and realized these people didn't know a thing about wheat.
Be it gluten content, name or protein content.
One person said you could use it but you couldn't make it very thin.
Another person said you could use durum but semolina was better.
Well semolina is made from durum.
Yet another person said semolina had the highest gluten, no this isn't true it is low in gluten.
Well anyway here is a sheet of bread flour rolled out to the number 9 setting the thinnest you can roll it.
You can see through it.
It cooked up great.
These must be young chefs.
Worth
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[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

That soup looks yummy, Worth. actually I almost licked the monitor just now!

Thanks Marsha I had a bowl and am trying to stay awake.

Worth

[barefootgardener]

Worth that is a cool story about the 3 oak trees.

Your turkey turned out just lovely! What is insta cure#1, and what is it's purpose in the brine? I brined a turkey a few years ago in a water, salt and brown sugar solution. I did not notice a difference in the flavor or moistness compared to the traditional way of cooking it all these years.

This year I had a twenty pound turkey to cook, and after drying the skin off I just rubbed it all over with homemade mayonnaise, lightly salted the outside and inside the cavity, put in a few sprigs of thyme and a few sage leaves, tied the legs together with twine, put the turkey on the raised roasting pan breast side up, I poured a bit of water into the bottom of the roasting pan, and cooked it on low heat in the oven until the temperature reached 180 degrees in the thigh. It took almost seven hours on slow roast. The turkey skin was nice and brown, and had the best moist meat ever. I did not baste the turkey at all during the cooking time. I did have to add another cup of water too the bottom of the roasting pan. It was incredibly moist!

Your soup looks really good, and your homemade pasta gives it that extra special touch!
I have been wanting a pasta machine for years, but don't know if I will get one. I just keep rolling the dough out and cutting it by hand. Nothing wrong with that, but I love the different widths and pasta shapes and varieties you can make with the right tools.. I think a machine might make it easier on my arthritic hands.. LOl


Ginny

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by barefootgardener

Worth that is a cool story about the 3 oak trees.

Your turkey turned out just lovely! What is insta cure#1, and what is it's purpose in the brine? I brined a turkey a few years ago in a water, salt and brown sugar solution. I did not notice a difference in the flavor or moistness compared to the traditional way of cooking it all these years.

This year I had a twenty pound turkey to cook, and after drying the skin off I just rubbed it all over with homemade mayonnaise, lightly salted the outside and inside the cavity, put in a few sprigs of thyme and a few sage leaves, tied the legs together with twine, put the turkey on the raised roasting pan breast side up, I poured a bit of water into the bottom of the roasting pan, and cooked it on low heat in the oven until the temperature reached 180 degrees in the thigh. It took almost seven hours on slow roast. The turkey skin was nice and brown, and had the best moist meat ever. I did not baste the turkey at all during the cooking time. I did have to add another cup of water too the bottom of the roasting pan. It was incredibly moist!

Your soup looks really good, and your homemade pasta gives it that extra special touch!
I have been wanting a pasta machine for years, but don't know if I will get one. I just keep rolling the dough out and cutting it by hand. Nothing wrong with that, but I love the different widths and pasta shapes and varieties you can make with the right tools.. I think a machine might make it easier on my arthritic hands.. LOl


Ginny

Ginny Insta cure #1 is potassium nitrite.
Its purpose is to kill bacteria and preserve the meat while it is smoking or cooking.
Nitrites break down into noting in a matter of no time.
I think it may be 1/4 of what it used to be in about 2 weeks.
Insta cure #2 has nitrite and nitrate in it.
It the nitrite cures now and the nitrate breaks down over a period of time into nitrites.
It is used to make dry hams and sausages as the nitrates take longer to break down into nitrites allowing the meat to dry before it spoils.
You will know you got everything right when you have a beautiful white yeast mold all over the meat.
The humidity has to be right also or you will get what they call case hardening.
This means the outside dries too quick and traps the moisture inside.
This drying process can take months.

Now to the pasta maker.
It is a huge learning curve to use one.
I had the option of instructions from my friend from Sicily to help me out on the phone and trial and error.

The bread flour is far superior to all purpose flour, I cannot express how much.
To get the cutters to cut properly the sheets have to be pretty dry or the noodles will stick together and break.
To get the sheets to act right and be stretchy you need gluten and the bread flour has it.
This takes time and moisture.
I did not use any water in the mix all I used was olive oil and eggs but a little water wont hurt.
This extra oil came from my hands as I used it to keep the dough from sticking to may hands.
Last night was the last of the soup and the noodles held up great, some of the best I have ever made.
A 50% semolina and 50% bread flour from hard red winter wheat would be the bomb.
It would also make a fantastic pizza dough.

Worth